What is SPARQL?

SPARQL is the W3C's declaritive query-language for Graph Model Databases and Stores.

As is the case with regards to SQL for relational databases and XQUERY for XML databases, SPARQL is database and host operating system independent.

The development and evolution of this standard is overseen by the
SPARQL Working Group within W3C and
while parts of the language are still in active development, it is fully documented and publicly available.